


A Quiet Night

by Europolarist



Series: Rebekah's Friend [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 14:32:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3940390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Europolarist/pseuds/Europolarist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just after the beacon, Peyton finds herself unable to sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Quiet Night

It was late when Peyton pulled herself out of bed and quickly dressed in a ship-friendly pair of leggings and an oversized sweater. The skeleton crew would be up to their duties, but for the most part the Normandy would be guided by the system’s auto-pilot as they floated through dark space to Therum. The relay jumps were a few hours in the past and with a full day ahead of them, Peyton had ordered the day crew to get some sleep in preparation for the search for the Asari’s daughter. 

In her socked feet, Peyton stole up the stairwell and into the CIC. Blue and orange touch screens glowed in their idle state, casting strange shadows on the walkway toward the bridge. A few of the marines on duty nodded to her as she walked past them, but many were busy running diagnostics and reports that the day crew were too busy to handle. 

She could still barely believe that Anderson had just handed her the proverbial keys to the state-of-the-art ship. 

Walking past the airlock, Peyton took a deep breath and then slipped into the cockpit. It was empty as she expected it to be, and blessedly quiet. With no flight lieutenant on duty she slipped into the pilot’s seat and powered up a few of the monitor systems to check up on the ship. Only a few days had passed since her encounter with the Prothean Beacon and she’d yet had the chance to inspect the inner workings of the ship that she should have been XO on. 

Peyton had memorized the specs of the ship well in advance of her arrival, but had not yet found the time to take control of the ship’s systems and inspect them.

She grinned as she settled into the seat, set for a man with a bigger build and longer legs than she expected. Wiggling into the lightly cushioned chair, Peyton brought up the diagnostics list to run a few reports while she enjoyed the silence. Pressing a few buttons, she lifted the debris shield to allow her a few of the stars as they flew. 

A handful of minutes passed in blessed silence when she caught the shuffling of feet coming up behind her.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping, Commander?” 

Peyton turned to see Joker standing in the doorway, leaning on a crutch with a thermos tucked under his arm.

“I,” she started, looking the pilot over. The words on the tip of her tongue had disappeared.

Joker smirked at her perusal and moved into the helm, settling into the co-pilot’s chair.

“You’re in my seat,” he said a few moments later, the silence nigh unbearable.

“Just wanted to check on the ol’ girl,” Peyton said, feeling a flush on her cheeks, like she’d been caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

“Its hours before the shift change,” she said, finding her voice. “What are you doing awake?”

“My ‘tool woke me up. The intruder alarms I set up went off,” he said, giving her a wink and reaching into a nearby compartment. 

Peyton couldn’t see his face clearly in the darkened room and used it as an excuse to watch him pull out a couple of white coffee mugs.

“Want some?” he asked, unscrewing the lid on the thermos.

“You know I don’t do coffee,” she said, grimacing at the thought of the black sludge the alliance seemed to think passed for a good hot drink.

“Its water for tea,” he said, giving her a grin in the orange splashed light of the instrument panel.

“Then I will take a cup,” she said, returning his smile and waiting for him to pour the steaming water into the mug.

“It’s good to see you smile,” Joker commented, holding the lip of the cup and handing it over to her, handle first. “Reminds me of the night on Arcturus.”

Peyton nodded, taking the cup from him and placing it on the edge of the instrument panel. On the last generation of ships there would have been a spill issue, but the new holographic interfaces kept the instrument panels safe from spilled tea. 

“I still can’t believe Bekah thought I wouldn’t see through the obvious set up,” she said, remembering the night her best friend had sprung a blind date on her in the club. 

“It all worked out,” Joker replied, rubbing the back of his neck. “And you can’t say you regretted the fact that you had someone to talk to when Bekah and Dave started making out in the corner of the club.”

Peyton raised an eyebrow in his direction and took a hesitant sip of the steaming drink. Still not strong enough, and placed the cup back on the panel.

Silence settled between them and Peyton looked for something to say. She was sorrier than ever that she’d let him escort her to the barracks and then settled for a kiss against her cheek rather than taking the man back to her temporary lodgings.  
“Something wrong, Peyt?” he asked, bringing her from her thoughts.

“You ever wish I had invited you up to my apartment that night?” 

The words slipped from her mouth before she could stop them, but once they were out, Peyton felt relief flood through her. She’d thought about that smartass soldier many times since their first and what should have been only-meeting.

Joker was quiet for a few minutes, clearly trying to find the right words to put her down gently.

“You don’t have to answer that,” she said, quickly trying to cover her tracks when he had no answer. “There are a hundred regs between us now, and it could never happen. I was just curious.”

An uncharacteristic frown crossed his features as Joker pulled himself up out of the co-pilot’s seat. She watched silently when he crossed the space between them and crouched at her feet.

“I cursed my cowardice for months after that night,” he said, finally, his eyes searching hers in the dim light. 

Feeling embarrassed, a flush crossed Peyton’s cheeks as she looked away, somehow his confession had made everything worse, instead of better, like she’d expected.

“It wouldn’t have ended with a one-night stand,” he said, reaching out and tilting her face so she’d look at him again. “Commander, we’d have had the love affair of the century.”

A laugh burst from her lips.

“Since when do you read romance serials on the extranet?” 

The man at her feet remained silent. Peyton frowned; worried that she’d offended her pilot with her outburst.

Without another word he closed the distance between them and pressed his moistened lips against hers. 

A squeak escaped her mouth and Joker took advantage, slipping his tongue into her mouth and tasting her as his fingers threaded through her loose hair, pulling her close.

Peyton couldn’t stop the whimper as she closed her eyes and felt herself enveloped by a scent that was purely Joker. He was sin and power all wrapped into one, despite whatever ailments he suffered from. 

The kiss deepened and Peyton leaned forward to run her fingers over his chest, systems alliance gray keeping her from feeling his skin directly. It was everything she’d wanted, everything she’d dreamed, heat and desire suffused her body as Joker shifted and settled between her legs, drawing out the kiss and stealing her breath.

When he finally pulled away, Peyton opened her eyes as he pressed his forehead against hers, trying to catch his breath.

“That was,” he whispered, his breath ghosting past her cheek, his words trailing off dreamily.

Peyton allowed a small chuckle to escape before pulling away from the heat the emanated from his form.

He frowned, watching her carefully.

“Good to know,” she said, pulling her bottom lip into her mouth to taste the last dredges of his flavor on her lips. 

“Peyton?” he questioned.

“We have a job to do,” she said, with a sigh. “But when that job is over, I fully intend on taking advantage of my Spectre status. I don’t believe I fall quite under the Alliance code of conduct anymore.”

Joker grinned as he moved back to the co-pilot’s seat.


End file.
